 |
| Jean Maillard (b. c 1515, no record after 1570). From Wikipedia |
The title of the song translates as “Alas my god”, so Le Roy's entabulation for guitar was never going to be a jolly one.
I always try to analyse the structure of a piece, which is easy to do in a dance or simple air, but not in a fantasia or a discursive song such as this. In the end, I had to resort to scissors and paste (literally) to understand how it’s organised. It’s generally easy to detect when the end of a section is coming because it is heralded by a cadence (such as in bars 9 and 18) built on the dominant chord of the harmony to which it is about to resolve.
§A: 10 bars starting emphatically in G major, resolving to A minor.
§B: 10 bars continuing in A minor but resolving to G major.
§§ A’, B’: variations on A & B, and often (but not always) more decorated than them.
§C: 11 bars starting with a D major chord, and ending in A major.
§D: 9 bars, finally resolving to D major.
§E: 15 bars, set in G major, and ending in a cadence in D resolving in the note G4 in the chord of C major in the next section.
§F: 21 bars resolving to G.
§F’: variations on F but with more divisions.
Fingering indications help to emphasise the strong and weak beats, and hence the rhythmic structure. Le Roy indicated the UNaccented notes, dyads or triads by a small dot under them. Mostly they follow the rules discussed in my post “Authentic (?) Renaissance right-hand fingerings”, and summarised below, so I have not marked them on the transcript. Deviations from the rules, often providing syncopation, are indicated conventionally using the p-i-m-a system.
The general rules were as follows (though some authors regard i and m of equal value):
(1) accented single notes (on the beat) were accented using p or m, with p obviously for the bass line;
(2) chords on the beat were played p-i-m-(a);
(3) unaccented single notes were played with i (and possibly m) except that the bottom voice (bass) was played with the thumb;
(4) unaccented chords or part chords with i-m-(a);
(5) with runs of shorter notes, 1st, 3rd, 5th etc notes were accented (m or p) alternating with i on the weaker notes (2nd, 4th etc);
(6) it is sometimes recommended that in duets (two musical lines) p-m is used on the beat and p-i on the weaker notes.
Available to download free in the following formats:
SOURCE
Transcribed from the original tablature of: Premier livre de tabulature de guiterre, contenant plusieurs chansons, fantasies, pavanes, gaillardes, almandes, branles, tant simples qu’autres le tout composé. par Adrian le Roy. Paris, 1551.
Facsimile online at: https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/36992e38-4a04-c705-affa-253d7b309c67/1/
(Permanent link: http://purl.org/rism/BI/1551/23)
